FOR
RELEASE: IMMEDIATELY
DATE: Sept. 14, 2009
CONTACT: Michael Skinner: (206)
878-3710, ext. 3344; mskinner@highline.edu
Lisa Skari: (206) 870-3705,
lskari@highline.edu
Highline Community College’s
StartZone celebrates first year of success
DES
MOINES, Wash. — Highline Community College’s StartZone is marking its
first-year anniversary with a celebration from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 8 in the Highline
Student Union (Building 8).
Since
opening in October 2008, the program has helped more than 120 women, people of
color, immigrants and people with disabilities who want to start or expand
their small businesses in Southwest King County.
In
addition, StartZone members have started 15 new businesses, created dozens of
new jobs and obtained nearly $90,000 in financing.
The
celebration, which is free and open to the public, will feature speakers who
have found success after receiving support from StartZone’s trained business
specialists.
Featured
speaker Adugna Wubbie, of SeaTac, originally came to StartZone with the hope of
building a successful business and helping his family back in his home country
of Ethiopia.
He
started Rose Super Clean Services, a commercial janitorial service, and is now
earning about $3,000 a month in revenue. By the end of his first year in
operation, he hopes to generate at least $10,000 a month in revenue.
“Our
StartZone business adviser gave us information on what we needed for success,”
Wubbie said. “As part of the StartZone community, we have had an opportunity to
meet other business owners, network and find support from our peers.”
Ruth
Tial Par, of Kent, will also be sharing her success story during the event.
Tial
Par, who is wheelchair-bound and came from Burma more than a year ago, wanted
to convert her hobby of sewing clothes into a business opportunity.
StartZone
helped Tial Par get new sewing machines and her business, Ruthy Tailoring,
recently started accepting customers.
StartZone
services are free to members and include assessments, referrals, business
consulting and planning, loan packaging, workshops, mentoring and opportunities
for networking and peer support.
StartZone
offers orientations from 6-6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month at the
HCC Outreach Center (Building 99), room 132, 23835 Pacific Highway S. in Kent.
For
more information about StartZone, call (206) 878-3710, ext. 3388, e-mail startzone@highline.edu or visit http://startzone.highline.edu.
StartZone
is funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Highline
Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County.
With approximately 18,300 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state’s
largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of
academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day,
evening, online and weekend classes.
With
the most diverse population of any college in Washington state, Highline takes
a multicultural approach to education for the success of all its students and
the prosperity of its surrounding communities. Alumni include former Seattle
Mayor Norm Rice, entrepreneur Junki Yoshida and Washington state poet laureate
Sam Green.
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Attachment:
Adugna Wubbie, of SeaTac
Ruth Tial Par, of Kent